{"id":2334,"date":"2019-11-30T16:46:56","date_gmt":"2019-11-30T05:46:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/california-cannabis-industry-sending-sos-to-state-leaders-as-black-market-continues-to-thrive-cbs-sacramento-november-28-2019-and-as-2019-comes-to-a-close-california-is-indeed-home-to-the-world-s-larg\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T21:02:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T10:02:11","slug":"california-cannabis-industry-sending-sos-to-state-leaders-as-black-market-continues-to-thrive-cbs-sacramento-november-28-2019-and-as-2019-comes-to-a-close-california-is-indeed-home-to-the-world-s-larg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/california-cannabis-industry-sending-sos-to-state-leaders-as-black-market-continues-to-thrive-cbs-sacramento-november-28-2019-and-as-2019-comes-to-a-close-california-is-indeed-home-to-the-world-s-larg\/","title":{"rendered":"California Cannabis Industry Sending SOS To State Leaders As Black Market Continues To Thrive"},"content":{"rendered":"

CBS Sacramento November 28, 2019<\/p>\n

And as 2019 comes to a close, California is indeed home to the world\u2019s largest cannabis market, totaling close to $12 billion in estimated sales. But here\u2019s the rub: $8.7 billion of that is changing hands in the illicit market.<\/p>\n

Now, members of California\u2019s cannabis industry are sending an S.O.S. to the state capitol, saying they\u2019re struggling to compete against black market operators who don\u2019t have to meet stringent regulations or pay taxes and fees. They\u2019re urging leaders to make swift regulatory changes or risk the collapse of their emerging industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hard truth is that until legislative changes are made, our industry will continue to wither away,\u201d said Michael Steinmetz, CEO of cannabis distributor Flow Kana, which recently joined a growing list of California cannabis firms that have cut their workforces.<\/p>\n

Following the job cuts, which were first reported by the Sacramento Bee and described as an \u201cepidemic\u201d of layoffs, Steinmetz cobbled together an informal coalition of more than a dozen leading companies and business associations to lobby the state.<\/p>\n

However, not all legacy businesses transitioned to licensed operations under the new laws. While some have no intention to become regulated, others believe it\u2019s cost-prohibitive or currently operate in municipalities where cannabis sales are banned, said Josh Drayton, spokesperson for the California Cannabis Industry Association.<\/p>\n

Fewer than 40% of California\u2019s municipalities have cannabis regulations in place, and only one in four of those allow for regulated retail operations, Drayton said. Earlier this year, lawmakers struck down a bill that would have required municipalities to allow recreational cannabis programs if a majority of their residents voted for the 2016 measure that legalized cannabis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t realize how strong this illicit market was going to stay,\u201d Hunter said. \u201cI think people really thought that it was just going to stop [after legalization]. And actually, the opposite has happened. It almost feels like the illicit market is getting stronger.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/sacramento.cbslocal.com\/2019\/11\/27\/california-cannabis-industry-sos-black-market-thrives\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Dalgarno Commentary<\/strong><\/p>\n

The most lauded ‘pillar’ of the pro-legalisation lobby was, and continues to be, that ‘legalising drugs takes the drug industry and its profits out of the hands of criminals and put it in the hands of the ‘state’ and it will prosper!’<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Never mind that under that regime, the State, the supposed protector of the people, then becomes \u2018The Official Drug Dealer\u2019 for the community!!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anyway, that lauded pillar of \u2018stoner logic\u2019 was opposed before legalisation happened. But more, what was predicted, by anyone with an ounce of common sense, is exactly what has come to pass in those jurisdictions foolish enough to put illicit substances back into the current of trade \u2013 The chaos of now three markets \u2013 Legal, Black and Grey Markets. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Australia doesn’t need to run this chaotic experiment, just learn from others mistakes… Or, just ‘punch another cone’ and flip the bird seems to be the current mood of some promoting and permitting policy makers!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Australia doesn’t need to run this chaotic experiment, just learn from others mistakes… <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Or, just ‘punch another cone’ and flip the bird, seems to be the current mood of some pot promoting and permitting policy makers!<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CBS Sacramento November 28, 2019 And as 2019 comes to a close, California is indeed home to the world\u2019s largest cannabis market, totaling close to $12 billion in estimated sales. But here\u2019s the rub: $8.7 billion of that is changing hands in the illicit market. Now, members of California\u2019s cannabis industry are sending an S.O.S. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[78],"class_list":["post-2334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cannabis-conundrum","tag-cannabis-conundrum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2334\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}